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Call for Papers: "Africa and the Environment – Archives and Data in the Climate Emergency"
Conference organized by the UK Library & Archives Group on Africa (London and online, 23 June 2023)
Africa’s natural environment is rich and diverse, ranging from its wildlife and plants to its land and resources. It is also one of the continents most severely affected by climate change, with increasingly erratic weather events adversely impacting biodiversity, agriculture and those living there. This conference will explore library and archive materials relating to Africa and the environment, and how they are collected, catalogued, preserved and used in research and teaching. How are records being used to document and understand the history of climate change, to predict the future and to influence policy? How are the data produced by current research on the environment being collected and preserved? As the catastrophic fire at the Jagger Library, University of Cape Town, in 2021 starkly illustrates, the climate crisis also presents an unprecedented challenge for the preservation of collections in Africa. The conference also aims to discuss the issues confronting libraries and archives on the continent, and what measures are being taken to protect and preserve their collections. Papers from librarians, archivists and researchers in a number of disciplines, including African Studies, History, Geography, Environmental Sciences, Cartography, and Refugee and Migration Studies are welcomed. Papers may address a range of media including documents and manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, historical printed collections, audio-visual material and born-digital material.
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
